The Planet

March 31, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Theater | 2 Comments

One of my favorite artifacts from Boston in the 80s was a small, literary gem called The Duplex Planet. The Duplex Planet was a true independent – hand copied, stapled and delivered – and could be found at Newbury Comics or any hip record shop and book store. It was/is created, owned and operated by the talented David Greenberger. See, he had this job as cruise director at a home for elderly gentlemen and one of his first gambits was an in-house newspaper. He would “interview” the residents, asking questions like – What was your favorite party? Who was Frankenstein? What do you like better–taxes or Texas? – and he would listen, put what he heard into the paper and hand it out. But while the residents didn’t mind talking, they had no interest in reading it. However – the rest of us did. The things he heard from these gentlemen could truly astonish. Hell – no one had really talked to them for years! The Duplex Planet still lives and I have a link over yonder to check it out.

The Planet is my first full length play and is based on roughly the first 40 issues of the magazine. I felt like I knew these men. I cared about them. So I decided to put them onstage. With the play, you spend some time – the week before Christmas 1980 – with eight men in their late 60s, 70 and 80s, including one extraordinary octogenarian poet (whose works would spawn at least four compilation CDs by alternative artists). I met these men through the pages of the magazine, so The Planet follows the flow of your average issue. Some conversations, some poetry, record reviews and soliloquies. These are their words, with some of mine thrown in to glue it together.

I don’t care what anyone says – it plays the way I want it to. Posted under Written Works.

Added to iPod

March 28, 2008 | Filed Under Music | 6 Comments

I’ve been thinking about the Marx Brothers lately. I even went out and ordered a DVD of a quickly cancelled 1970 music-based TV show because Groucho was the final guest host.

I’m afraid they are being forgotten. Their movies don’t run on TV any more (the good ones, anyway). The kids don’t get it. I have been trying for years to get that teenager I sired to watch and laugh at their movies. Nothing. I think it’s because they are in black and white – as if you can’t see the humor if it’s in black and white. BUT he likes Monty Python. And where would they be without the Marx Brothers? Where would Robin Williams be? Hell – Bugs Bunny stole his entire act from the Marx Brothers!

So on a lark, I went out to iTunes and – lo and behold – there were surprises. Seems iTunes carries a soundtrack to two of the Brothers greatest films – Horse Feathers and Animal Crackers. Not only do you get the songs and music (“Hello, I Must Be Going”, Chico’s piano) and great bits of dialogue (“The password is swordfish…” or “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude…”) These are true gems, ladies and germs, and the sound quality is as good as the films. Digging a bit deeper, I even found Groucho singing my favorite song, “Lydia, The Tattooed Lady”.

If you keep comedy in your library, these are necessary additions.

New Pictures

March 26, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 6 Comments

I’ve added some from my first tourist extravaganza in Kuwait. It’s hard to take pictures because you can’t take pictures of people. They don’t like it. At all. Even if you just happen to catch a person while taking a shot of a building. And Lord help you if you take a picture of a woman – even by accident.

What I’m saying is – it won’t be art. Check them out.

New Link

March 24, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Music, Politics | No Comments

So let me be the 5 millionth person to add the link for will.i.am’s video “Yes We Can”.

I have been re-reading Fear and Loathing: On The Campaign Trail ‘72 lately and this is what the late, great Dr. Thompson had to say early on in the book:

“How many more of these goddamn elections are we going to have to write off as lame but ‘regrettably necessary’ holding actions? And how many more of these stinking, double-downer sideshows will we have to go through before we can get ourselves straight enough to put together some kind of national election that will give me and at least 20 million other people I tend to agree with a chance to vote for something, instead of always being faced with that old familiar choice between the lesser of two evils?”

I hope we’re there. ‘Cause more and more these days, the Clinton crew is looking just like a bunch of crusty old political hacks.

Like Hubert Humphrey. He had experience, too…

Year Two

March 22, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 7 Comments

Well… It’s a birthday.

I started this blog one year ago today. Just to talk with folks and write about what was in my head. Who knew where we’d be today? A year ago, oil was only $65 per barrel, gas was $2.50 a gallon and Bear Stearns still existed (and I hope none of my friends from the boat were hurt in that meltdown). If you had told me a year ago I would be working in the Kuwait, I would have laughed my ass off. And, surprisingly, we actually have a historic presidential race going on in the States. I hope it stays that way. I can’t vote between two old hacks again.

I want to thank my sister for setting me up out here on one of the Inter-Webs many pipes. One of the cool things about this site is that – on the back end – I can see how many people visit and from where. So I need to send a shout out to everyone who is stopping by from Canada, France, Sweden and the Netherlands. You are nearly a third of my readers!

So – welcome. Drop a line. I hope you keep reading. The coming year looks to be interesting from every angle.

Driving In Kuwait

March 18, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

I’m getting much better at it. Finding the groove the locals have when they drive. This week I was working on my route to the office and back. I think I have a pretty good one now. I’ve cut my near-death experiences in half!

There is ONLY aggressive driving out here. At times there are as many lanes on a road as traffic will allow. Merging is an art form. If it looks like it should be a two-lane-to-one merge, it’s really a five lane to one merge. If your car fits – go. You haven’t lived until you are passed on the right by a guy (or girl) driving on the white line between you and the person in the other lane. If there are four lanes at a stop light, any lane can make a left hand turn… if you can make it. This is the only place I have ever seen a Hummer weave in and out across three lanes of early morning local traffic. AND they do this on their cell phones. I did – once – see a police officer pull over a car. My only assumption is that either they actually hit someone or they had porn in the car. It couldn’t be for driving.

I now understand why there is no alcohol in this country. If alcohol were legal, the population would be halved in about two weeks.

Non sequitur of the month

March 17, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Music | No Comments

“Abba’s drummer found dead in his garden.”

??

Drummer?

Happy St. Patricks!

March 17, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments

It’s Monday.

You should be drinking.

Added to iPod

March 14, 2008 | Filed Under Music | No Comments

Since I have no internet, me and Starbucks are getting to know each other.

Tori Amos – “From The Choirgirl Hotel” I always skipped this album, thinking it a lesser Boys For Pele. But this is a very strong set of songs and points the way to the strength she showed in Scarlet’s Walk.
Stephen Soundheim – “Assassins” The original, chamber production with Annie Golden. Soundheim is brilliant.
Triumvirate – “Spartacus” I ordered this special. PROG ROCK LIVES!
Glenn Gould – “32 Short Films About Glenn Gould” I knew little or nothing about this man until I saw this movie. One of the greats and a little nutty (but who isn’t?)
Burt Bacharach – “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid” One of my favorite movies. The instrumental Not Goin’ Home Anymore is gorgeous.
Harry Nilsson – “The Point” A classic.

Let’s talk Cable…

March 11, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

I have 657 channels.

Only ten of them speak English (there will be ten more when the programming I paid for kicks in). Some of these are English-language news programs which include Al Jazeera, France 24 and Russia Today. The rest show occasional movies or sitcoms. I get a whole slew of Italian and French channels. There are about 100 music video channels which range from Western videos to traditional music performances from numerous countries. The two Iranian channels are music videos and they are similar to Western pop music. Arab videos are like small movies, with credits that roll after the song. There are also about five “god” channels preaching “geee-zuz” in a Muslim country. One is called “Loveworld” and you can find it in between the “sex” channels(yes – sex). The sex channels consist of pictures (or live) half naked European women asking for your phone calls. I’m pretty sure they are half naked but it is difficult to tell since the screen is filled with phone numbers. Very weird to see out here.

About 400 channels consist of “talking heads” – Arab men dressed in the traditional dishdasha and headdress talking to either each other or the camera. Since I don’t understand the language, they could be talking about business, politics, sports, religion or napkin folding. It all looks and sounds the same.

But it will be interesting to have access to programming from SO MANY countries. I can flip between Syria TV, Sudan TV, Kurdistan TV, Jordan TV, Ethiopia TV, Romania TV, Libya TV etc. etc. I watched the NART Network last night. That’s the National Adiga Radio and Television. When you go to their website, it says the channel hopes to connect “all Circassian people and their communities”. Turns out this is a culture of people found in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria who were run out of the Caucuses by the Russians hundreds of years ago.

It’s cool to have a real window on the outside world that goes beyond CNN.

Life In Kuwait

March 8, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 8 Comments

On Thursday night, I finally got to go out and see a movie. [That means I figured out the times, the places and had the night free.] I went over to the Avenues – a new mall – to see Sweeny Todd. Now, I had heard about the censorship in Kuwait. Recently, I saw an editorial in the paper decrying the fact that Charlie Wilson’s War had roughly forty cuts in it and made the movie unwatchable. But I had yet to see (or notice) any censorship… until now. It turns out they cut the parts where Sweeny cuts the throats. While I think it is better to censor violence rather than obsessing on sex, in this particular movie it is a mistake. The songs are intimately tied to the action. Once you start hacking away, you destroy the whole piece. So I had to leave.

Yesterday I had my first hair cut in Kuwait. I was pretty nervous about this. For one – you have a relationship with the person who regularly cuts your hair. You walk into the unknown when you change – especially when there might be a language barrier. Secondly – over here – men cut men’s hair. Women cut women’s hair. I don’t think a man has cut my hair more than twice since I stopped getting haircuts from my Dad. Plus – men’s hair salons (or “saloons” as it is sometimes spelt) are everywhere! How do you choose? Do you gamble like that with your hair?? Luckily, I was able to track down one expat at work who actually HAS hair and he directed me to a place he goes. There was something about the folks there being Turkish and they – or Lebanese – are the best for haircuts. I guess he was right because I’m pretty happy with it.

Lastly – it seems I have an excellent sushi restaurant in walking distance! Yes – sushi is universal. Dinner last night was perfection.

She Said What…?

March 6, 2008 | Filed Under Main, Politics | 1 Comment

In the “people who live in glass houses” catagory, I think the Hill-meister needs to kill all the talk about Obama’s indicted donor. That guy and the measly amount of cash that needed to be returned is NOTHING compared to the mammoth grocery list of shady characters the Clintons have partied with over the years. Check out this link: from The New Republic.

It may be time for Obama to mention them…

My Dominos

March 2, 2008 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

…and for good or ill, the taste loses nothing in the 4,000 mile translation.
I’m working on some Kuwait pictures now. They should be up next week.

dominos1.jpg

Guilty Pleasure

March 1, 2008 | Filed Under Main | 8 Comments

Have I mentioned that the apartment has no cable and no internet access? That latest word on that is there is no line to the building. We’re talking possibly a month before either of those items is available to me.

Now, for the past three weeks, I have been working ten hours days – six days a week. My work access is restricted, of course, but mainly – when I finally get home – I need some mindless diversion before bed. So, I have had to rely on DVDs (there is a TV, just no reception). The stockpile of “Western” DVDs in Kuwait is about as shallow as the music selection, but the intrepid shopper who keeps his eyes open at the random grocery or department store (“hyper markets”) is occasionally rewarded. Well, the most amazing bit of 70s TV culture dropped in my lap the other day. I found a DVD of three episodes from the first season of…

Are you sitting down?

The Bionic Woman! Yes – The original Bionic Woman. Lindsay Wagner in all her running, leaping glory. As members of my family will tell you, I had quite a teenage crush on Ms. Wagner for which there is no explanation. I haven’t seen this program in over 20 years. I wonder if those sparks are still there…?

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